NEW YORK, NY - JULY 08: Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is mobbed by reporters while attempting to collect signatures to run for comptroller of New York City on July 8, 2013 in New York City. Spitzer resigned as governor in 2008 after it was discovered that he was using a high end call girl service. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images) ORG XMIT: 173275042 less

NEW YORK, NY - JULY 08: Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is mobbed by reporters while attempting to collect signatures to run for comptroller of New York City on July 8, 2013 in New York City. Spitzer ... more

Photo: Andrew Burton

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Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who is running for New York City comptroller, speaks to reporters at Union Square in New York, July 8, 2013. Spitzer, who resigned as governor of New York in 2008 amid a prostitution scandal, is wagering that voters are ready to look past his previous misconduct. (Damon Winter/The New York Times) ORG XMIT: XNYT25 less

Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who is running for New York City comptroller, speaks to reporters at Union Square in New York, July 8, 2013. Spitzer, who resigned as governor of New York in 2008 amid a ... more

Photo: DAMON WINTER

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Spitzer: From disgrace to the ballot

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Albany

It's an old saying: There's nothing shorter than a voter's memory.

Apparently taking this to heart, politicians are growing longer in their ambitions. Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer's last-minute entry into the race for New York City comptroller makes him the latest scandal-scarred pol to seek a return to office, just five years after his ignominious exit amid a prostitution scandal.

Spitzer joins mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, the congressman who resigned in 2011 after lying about tweeting lewd pictures, and City Council hopeful Vito Lopez, the Brooklyn assemblyman who resigned after reports detailed sexual harassment of female aides.

It prompts two questions: Will it work? And — something a bit more bedeviling — why do these guys keep trying?

"Most people involved in political life, whether elected officials or their staff, are infected with a love for politics and 'the game,'" said Bob Bellafiore, a former political journalist and one-time spokesman for Gov. George Pataki who now works as a private communications consultant.

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"Elected officials have the additional infection of not only thinking things can be better, but of believing they're the best ones to do it," he said. "This is otherwise known as ego."

There is some recent precedent for success, too. South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford came close to being impeached in 2009 after he disappeared to Argentina for an extramarital affair, but earlier this year was elected to Congress. Contrition and an airing of dirty laundry in some ways provide free publicity, boosting already high name recognition for political fallen angels. In ideal circumstances, this boosts poll standing, which attracts money, which creates an aura of inevitability, which draws endorsements — and leads to victory.

Richard Brodsky, a former assemblyman who is now a fellow at a progressive think tank, said voters make a distinction between pols who can't keep their pants zipped and those who get caught with their hands in the cookie jar. "People will not forgive a thief, but they might forgive a philanderer," he said.

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"But Eliot has a second-level problem," Brodsky continued. "He's defined himself as a steamroller and an extreme tough guy, and lots of people don't like that."

Indeed, in a series of interviews Monday, Spitzer said he was excited by the prospect of creatively expanding the city comptroller's authority and powers, and saying he was ready for voters to pass judgment on his past deeds.

He said he was not influenced by Weiner's early poll traction, and refused to criticize his Democratic primary opponent, Scott Stringer, who on Monday poked Spitzer's plan to use family money to fund his race.

Republicans attacked the "unholy trinity" of Spitzer, Weiner and Lopez, all Democrats.

Joe Mercurio, a political consultant who normally works for Democrats, wondered if Spitzer had done the necessary rehabilitation and questioned the public absence of his wife, Silda Wall Spitzer, during the campaign rollout. "Voters will decide," he said.

Spitzer refused to be flummoxed as he trudged through dozens of reporters in Manhattan's Union Square while attempting to gather some of the 3,750 nominating signatures he needs to file this week to secure a spot on the primary ballot.

"I enjoy it," Spitzer said.

Several of his former aides said they weren't at all surprised to hear the news, including Lloyd Constantine, who mentored Spitzer as a young prosecutor and eventually joined his gubernatorial administration as a senior adviser.

"What I believe is that Eliot was in government for the right reasons: He wanted to make the places where he lived better places, and he had a vision and skills to make that happen," Constantine said.

He said he last spoke to Spitzer about two months ago, and they are in semi-regular contact. The former governor was not happy with Constantine's book "Journal of the Plague Year," an account of the 14-month administration that Spitzer called a "fundamental breach of trust."

Constantine's analysis of Spitzer's current run builds off the book's thesis: Spitzer has the tools to be an effective public official, but was weighed down by the knowledge of his extramarital sexual activities.

"He knew he was a marked man, he knew it was just a matter of when it would be revealed, and he took office knowing there was a gun to his head," Constantine said. "If he's clear of all the things he was engaged in — and I know that he is — I think he'll be an extraordinarily fine comptroller."

"I don't think he wants the comptroller's office to be his last position," Constantine added. "But he has to come back somewhere, someplace."